My Life Would Suck Without You
by AmiraStarr
Summary: What do you do when your friend is pissed off and won't talk to you? If you are Yagami Taichi, you go on an epic squirrel hunt. In response to a challenge on the 'The Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs' Digimon Forum.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. **

**This my story based off of a challenge in the alpha phoenix's forum, 'The Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs'. The challenge was to write a story with Taichi and Sora using the prompt 'Never do that again'. Here is my attempt and I hope to see you readers at the forum. The fanfiction link is: /forum/The-Forest-of-Irrelevant-Road-Signs/141504/ **

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It was supposed to be a beautiful trip filled with laughter and smiles. It was supposed to be a chance to see some of the most breath-taking natural beauty Japan had to offer. It was supposed to be a chance to escape the dull classrooms and explore the outside world. The trip was supposed to be many things, but as the charter bus moved closer to their destination Takenouchi Sora could only focus on one thing; how pissed off she was at one of her best friends in the entire world.

She looked across the row and watched Yagami Taichi joke with his friends and babble about some football game. When he turned to look at her, his lips curled into a smile then a frown as she merely stared at him then looked back at her travel brochure. It wouldn't surprise the girl in the slightest if Taichi had no real idea why she was so mad at him. Of course, that didn't mean she was going to feel any less angry with the brunet.

"Hey," He approached her seatmate and offered a friendly smile, "Could I trade you places for a few minutes?"

The girl giggled and offered Sora a small wink before moving across the row to Taichi's vacant seat. Had her spirits been higher, the wink wouldn't have bothered Sora. But in her current state, the last thing she wanted was people insinuating she had a romantic relationship with a certain Yagami Taichi.

"So," He sat down beside her and tapped his foot on the floor. The way his eyes darted around the space gave the impression of nervousness and uncertainty, and a tiny part of Sora believed he deserved to squirm a little. "Catch the game last night?"

"No."

He watched her flip the page of her brochure and tried to push the topic, he assumed, they could both enjoy, "It was pretty good. They were down by a point, but a trick shot helped them win. You would have loved it, Sora. I have never seen a header go that far!"

"Sounds nice." She closed the thin pamphlet and stared at the back of the publication, as if the copyright date was the most fascinating thing in the world.

"Are you mad about something? Is something wrong?" He ruffled his wild hair, another nervous tic any of his friends would most likely pick up on.

"No." She placed her reading material in the mesh pocket in front of her seat, and looked towards the front of the bus as it pulled to a stop. "Nothing is wrong."

Their teacher called for attention, but Taichi kept his eyes trained on Sora. After living with a mother and sister for so long, he understood that girls defined the word 'nothing' differently than boys. Sure, they occasionally used it in its correct form, but when it was paired with that notoriously long sigh and avoidant gaze it meant more. It meant that _everything_ was wrong, and there was a damn good chance that the asker was the reason things were going downhill. But what had he done to make her this angry?

Sora was slightly relieved when Taichi left her side after they exited the bus. She noticed him following their teacher to the information booth, but didn't care to watch further. They had a good fifteen minutes before they started the hiking trail and she was determined to capture a few photographs of the beautiful landscape.

After a snap or two of trees blowing in the wind, her attention was stolen by a soft rustling of the leaves at the base of a nearby tree. She aimed her camera at the moving leaves and smiled widely when a pair of large black eyes stared out at her. The creature was tiny, no bigger then a human fist, and twitched its nose continuously as it stared up at her. From the white and grey fur, Sora judged it was one of the types of squirrels listed in her travel brochure. The brochure had mentioned they were nocturnal creatures, but this little fellow did not appear to have any knowledge of that fact.

"Hi there little guy," She whispered the words and crouched down slowly so she could get a better shot of the squirrel. The animal tilted its head as if trying to measure how much of a threat she was. "I won't hurt you. I just want to take your photo, if you'll come a little more out of the leaves."

The squirrel took a moment to decide what it wanted to do, but after a few gentle whispers from Sora it started to move a little closer. At three feet from the girl, the animal stopped suddenly and turned its head to stare at something past Sora. Its eyes widened slightly and it turned to run from the scene as a familiar voice reached Sora's ears.

"Hey Sora! Guess what!" Taichi raced over and didn't notice the squirrel running for its life, "I talked to your old hiking partner and got her to trade with me. So now we-What?"

"Didn't you see that I was trying to take the squirrel's picture? You scared him off." She sighed softly and rubbed her left temple.

"I can find you another squirrel?" Taichi offered with his face covered in a sheepish grin. He hadn't meant to destroy Sora's photograph opportunity; he had tried to get back on her good side by spending time with her. He was starting to believe it might not have been his best idea.

"No," She shook her head and headed towards the group that was lining up by the information center, "Its alright, I'll just find something else to photograph for the yearbook."

During the hike, Taichi had trouble focusing on the guide or his teacher's constant spewing of facts and trivia. All he could think about was the fact Sora was walking silently beside him still carrying a look of muted anger. He was pretty sure the squirrel incident had dug his grave deeper, but that didn't explain why there was a hole to begin with! They had talked normally in the past few days. He hadn't insulted her on purpose, and he was almost certain that he complimented her tennis stroke the other day. The unfairness of the situation began to sink into his mind. How could she expect him to fix whatever pissed her off when she wouldn't tell him why she was pissed off?!

Something gently tugged his shoe and he glanced down to see the laces had come untied and stuck to a thorny plant. As he bent down to retie them he noticed something moving in the distance. The thick grass shielded the creature from his view, but the boy was almost certain he spotted a patch of gray fur. With the hike forgotten, Taichi's brain began to develop a new plan. Maybe he wouldn't be able to decode Sora's mystery anger, but he could fix one problem. If he caught a squirrel for her to photograph she would have to forgive him. How hard could it be to capture an animal that tiny? He could outrun something with legs only an inch or two long!

Sora hadn't noticed Taichi stop to fiddle with his shoes, but she managed to catch a glimpse of him disappearing down a separate trail. His hands were cupped around his mouth and he seemed to be making some kind of chatter like noise. She spared a glance at her class still trudging forward, but knew she wasn't going to be able to abandon her friend and partner. If she hurried, she figured, she could drag him back to the right path before the teacher even noticed their absence.

"Squirrel," Taichi called out in a voice he figured would attract such animals. He had no idea what drew squirrels out of hiding, but he had to try something. "Come on out mister squirrel."

"Taichi!" Sora called out to him as she finally caught up with the boy. She hadn't predicted that he would move so fast, and the distance she had to travel had slowed her chase down and slightly confused her. If she were honest with herself, she didn't exactly know which unbeaten path would lead back to the main road.

"Hey Sora," He smiled at her and she noted a determined glint in his caramel eyes.

"What are you doing out here? We have to get back to the group before anyone notices we are gone." She tugged his arm and stared at the various paths all melding into one confusing maze.

"I found another squirrel for you. He's around here somewhere."

"Taichi, I really don't think you found another one. They are nocturnal. It was rare for even that one to be out during the day. Now we need to head back. Do you remember the way?" She looked back at his face and noticed his eyes were trained on something in the distance, "Taichi?"

"There it is!" He shouted the phrase far too loudly and forced whatever was in the brush to dart into the thicker woods and inclined hills.

Sora shouted after him as the boy took off into the woods, but none of her words seemed to reach his ears. Taichi was a determined, headstrong guy, but he was acting a little eccentric even for him. Why would he try so hard to catch a squirrel? She had told him that she would find a new photography subject. As she chased after him and attempted to climb the steadily sloping rocky hills, a thought occurred to her. Was he really so determined to make her feel better that he would risk getting lost and climbing up unsafe hillsides? Maybe she had been a little too hard on him? Any guy willing to do something this stupid must have really cared about the person they were doing it for.

"Taichi!" She called out as he scaled a particularly rocky section and left her at the base, "It's okay! You don't have to do this! I for-"

"I got him Sor-" His words were cut short as a surprised yelp escaped his lungs, and the sound of shifting rocks met her ears.

"Taichi?" She raced up the side with new determination when he didn't answer her panicked call. A few of the rocks slipped under her feet and forced her to dig her knees into the rough ground. The pain was strong but her fear for Taichi's fate superseded any other emotion in her body. The only thing her brain could focus on was finding her friend.

"Taichi?!" The calls became more panicked as she reached the top of the ledge. She tiptoed to the crumbled area and looked at the floor below for any sign of Taichi. She could see multiple rocks and thick trees lining the area, but there was no sign of a body. The thought he could be hiding under some brush with deathly wounds forced tears in her eyes and an even louder call, "Taichi! Where are you?! Can you hear me!?"

Sora waited with her hands behind her ears to maximize the chance she could hear a faint call. When nothing came back, she bit her lip and tried once more to scream out her friend's name. A flock of birds fluttered away from her, but no other sounds were heard in the quiet mountainside. The tears began to flow more freely as she tried to think of something, anything she could do for her friend. There was no cell service to call an ambulance, not a single soul had responded to her screams, and she had no way to get back to her teacher and the guide to ask them for help. She wondered if it would be possible to slide down the slope and search for Taichi. Having both of them stuck in a pit with broken legs was an even worse situation, so she nixed the idea and moved away from the edge.

"Oh Tiachi," Her breath was jagged as she tried to keep her thoughts straight and not fall into her increasing wave of emotions. "I didn't mean for you to chase that damn squirrel. I wish I could tell you that I'm sorry but I don't even know where you are!"

"What else would you say?"

"That I'm stupid to have gotten so upset with him. That I love him and I just wish he was here so I could tell him that I'm not mad anymo-" The realization hit her in that moment and she turned to see a rather rough-looking Taichi standing behind her. "Taichi?"

The girl leapt forward and practically knocked the boy over with the force of her hug. She buried her face into his shirt and wet the dusty material with tears of relief. Taichi hugged her back and couldn't understand the depth of her emotions. He was happy to see that she didn't rejoice when she thought he had fallen off the side, but was also surprised to hear that she cared about him so deeply. Who knew falling down a little hillside made people reevaluate their anger?

"Are you okay?" She looked up at his face with her own covered in streams of black makeup due to the tears.

"Yeah, I'm fine. A little sore from the fall, but I just climbed around the side and got right back up here." He hugged her tightly, but noticed a new look settle over her face.

She pushed him away and poked his chest firmly, "Don't you _ever_ do that to me again."

"Survive a fall?" He felt as lost as he had been at the beginning of the mess, but relented his confusion in favor of acceptance as she wrapped her arms back around him and hugged even tighter.

"Don't scare me like that again, Taichi." She whispered the words in such a heartbreaking tone that he wrapped his arms protectively around her.

"Don't worry," He smiled and kissed the top of her head, like a parent soothing a scared child, "You can't get rid of me that easily."

"Promise?"

"Promise." He laughed softly and hugged her a little tighter, before staring out at the wilderness, "You wouldn't happen to know how to get back would you?"

Sora rolled her eyes and gave a small sigh as she relished in the fact her stubborn, headstrong, and directional challenged friend really was no different then he had been before the fall.

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**Couple or not a couple? You can decide. The story was named after a Kelly Clarkson song, because the title just clicked with me. You can look the song up if you like, it could possibly tie in to the mood of the story. Anyway, now that you finished the story, don't forget to check out 'The Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs'! **


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